On Sun, 22 Dec 2013 07:39:42 -0800, Paul Brandon wrote: >Because hardly anyone outside of Williamsburg says that any more?
Really? Who knew that Virginia had such a large Yiddish speaking population!?! I believe that when most people hear of "Williamsburg" they think of a place in Virginia, as represented in this website that promotes tourism there: http://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/?gclid=CJeo1biqxLsCFSLxOgodwzQAbg But perhaps Paul is referring to the place in Virginia. A quick internet search shows that indeed there long has been a Jewish presence in the Old Dominion, with about 6,000 serving for the Confederacy during the Civil War; see: http://books.google.com/books?id=5P-Oyqu8MuoC&pg=PA305&lpg=PA305&dq=%22jews+the+confederacy%22&source=bl&ots=fMGCz2Y2PF&sig=gUIDviAuGceYYcVYO2tE7ROk5s8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UBO3UsTpOpDpkQfav4GIAQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22jews%20the%20confederacy%22&f=false and http://books.google.com/books?id=UtiEY4s9n9IC&pg=PA203&dq=%22jews+the+confederacy%22++williamsburg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5BS3UpLfDcyskAeokIGABQ&ved=0CEUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22jews%20the%20confederacy%22%20%20williamsburg&f=false But -- and I'm just guessing here -- perhaps Paul was referring to another Williamsburg? Another quick internet search identifies a Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY but this seems to be a "hipster" haven the likes of which Stephen Colbert makes fun of. For contemporary Williamsburg, consider the following websites: http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/mayjun13/brooklyn_0513.html and http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130521/williamsburg/bridge-and-tunnel-poser-hipsters-clog-williamsburg-bars-locals-complain and http://brooklyn.about.com/od/eventsthingstodo/tp/10-Best-Things-To-Do-In-Williamsburg-Brooklyn.htm and http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131011/east-williamsburg/fdny-shuts-down-hipster-party-boat-newtown-creek and http://observer.com/term/williamsburg/ and... well you should get the idea. Yiddish speakers still live in Williamsburg but their number is diminished. Here is the Wikipedia entry on Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY and it provides some history as well as it's current state as a hipster haven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg,_Brooklyn Wikipedia provides some information on the extent of Yiddish usage and here is a quote from the entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_language : |Present U.S. speaker population | |In the 2000 census, 178,945 people in the United States reported |speaking Yiddish at home. Of these speakers, 113,515 lived in New York |(63.43% of American Yiddish speakers); 18,220 in Florida (10.18%); |9,145 in New Jersey (5.11%); and 8,950 in California (5.00%). The |remaining states with speaker populations larger than 1,000 are |Pennsylvania (5,445), Ohio (1,925), Michigan (1,945), Massachusetts |(2,380), Maryland (2,125), Illinois (3,510), Connecticut (1,710), and |Arizona (1,055). The population is largely elderly: 72,885 of the speakers |were older than 65, 66,815 were between 18 and 64, and only 39,245 |were age 17 or lower.[43] In the six years since the 2000 census, the |2006 American Community Survey reflected an estimated 15 percent |decline of people speaking Yiddish at home in the U.S. to 152,515.[44] | |There are a few predominantly Hasidic communities in the United States |in which Yiddish remains the majority language. Kiryas Joel, New York |is one such; in the 2000 census, nearly 90% of residents of Kiryas Joel |reported speaking Yiddish at home.[45] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_language#Present_U.S._speaker_population Perhaps Paul meant the town of Kiryas Joel, mentioned above and which has more information provided for it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York But if he had, I would not have had the opportunity to play up the Williamsburg, VA vs Williamsburg, NY distinction. ;-) Few people understand the weirdness associated with hearing "Old Williamsburg" and realizing they're referring to some place in Virginia. ;-) -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu On Dec 22, 2013, at 7:42 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > The NY Times has an interactive quiz that uses different language/dialect > examples to locate where you, dear reader, are geographically more > similar or most dissimilate to -- based on the database of response that > they have collected. See: > > http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131222 > > I wonder why they didn't use "Oy, gevalt!". ;-) > > -Mike Palij > New York University > m...@nyu.edu > > P.S. My map: http://nyti.ms/1cnLBGi --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=31753 or send a blank email to leave-31753-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
